While 97% of Americans with a smartphone use them to send texts, many organizations don’t have any supervision or management of mobile communication in place. While it is intuitive and reliable, text messaging can pose serious litigation and reputation risks if employees are conducting business conversations without clear policies and supervision. Read this guide to understand the ways companies are exposed to risk through texting and how you can reap the benefits of text message archiving with implementation of smart policies and solutions.

This guide contains practical steps that will help public sector organizations and departments develop a text message policy and retention strategy to protect against the risk involved with use of this popular, universal form of communication. It also outlines some smart text recordkeeping practices so you’ll be better prepared to respond to open records requests or other e-discovery needs when they arise.

Against the backdrop of political shifts in Washington and growing popular distrust of “big finance,” the seventh annual Smarsh survey of compliance professionals in the financial services industry reveals that the electronic communications compliance landscape has become broader, more complex and more scrutinized.

More firms are finding that gaps in retention and supervision programs have consequences. Examinations have become more comprehensive, with regulators focusing in particular on supervision processes. FINRA reported 99 books and records cases in 2016, resulting in $22.5million in fines. Compared to 2015, that represents a 423% increase in fines. Download our whitepaper to learn how you can protect your company!

Prior to fully embracing SMS/text messaging, organizations need to assess how and why their employees want to use text communications, develop and communicate use policies, and ensure all information sent via text can be retained and archived. Remember, any communication sent or received by government organizations—including public safety departments and their employees—is subject to open records requests.

In this report, we examine how public safety agencies can create policies that allow for compliant use of SMS/text messaging, and how to retain and archive those communications for a more efficient response to open records requests.

Read our guide to learn:

• How other public safety departments are using text messaging
• What you need to consider for public record requests
• What to consider when building your communications policy

In this three-part e-book, Don DeLoach walks public sector organizations through the key elements needed to respond quickly and accurately to open records requests: identifying what information needs to be retained and archived, best practices and procedures for retaining communications, finding and implementing an automated solution, and the important roles stakeholders play in the records response process.

From a CIOs perspective this eBook covers:

• The challenges of archiving communications
• Choosing the right archiving solution for your organization
• Internal policies and rules

Social media can greatly improve communication, deliver constituent services, help optimize processes, and aid response to emergencies within your community. It can also allow public sector organization employees to be more accountable, transparent, and open. Along with the benefits comes increased awareness of security, privacy, and records management challenges on social media.

A solid social media strategy can help your organization and departments connect with the community in an easy, time and cost-effective manner that most people can access. The strategy doesn’t need to be complicated. Whether this is your first time developing a social media strategy, or you already have one in place, remember to keep it simple. Here are a few things to consider while developing or rounding-out your strategy:

• Available social media tools and capabilities
• Internal policies and approvals
• External requirements for preserving records and responding to information requests
• Your organization’s overall objectives and the needs of the community

Text messaging is an immediate and simple way of communicating, so many government employees prefer it over email or other traditional methods. However, FOIA laws require all electronic communications used for business to be archived and available for public record requests. It doesn’t matter whether an employee uses his/her personal or government-issued cell phone, both are fair game.

In this guide we’ll show how public sector organizations can build an airtight mobile strategy. Learn about device scenarios, policy creation, mobile device management, and the archiving process.

Read our guide to learn:

• Device ownership scenarios – advantages and disadvantages
• Key questions to answer for an airtight policy
• How to retain & report text message content